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Zooplankton boom and ice amphipod bust below melting sea ice in the Amundsen Gulf, Arctic Canada

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Abstract

Early summer in the Arctic with extensive ice melt and break-up represents a dramatic change for sympagic–pelagic fauna below seasonal sea ice. As part of the International Polar Year-Circumpolar Flaw Lead system study (IPY-CFL), this investigation quantified zooplankton in the meltwater layer below landfast ice and remaining ice fauna below melting ice during June (2008) in Franklin Bay and Darnley Bay, Amundsen Gulf, Canada. The ice was in a state of advanced melt, with fully developed melt ponds. Intense melting resulted in a 0.3- to 0.5-m-thick meltwater layer below the ice, with a strong halocline to the Arctic water below. Zooplankton under the ice, in and below the meltwater layer, was sampled by SCUBA divers. Dense concentrations (max. 1,400 ind. m−3) of Calanus glacialis were associated with the meltwater layer, with dominant copepodid stages CIV and CV and high abundance of nauplii. Less abundant species included Pseudocalanus spp., Oithona similis and C. hyperboreus. The copepods were likely feeding on phytoplankton (0.5–2.3 mg Chl-a m−3) in the meltwater layer. Ice amphipods were present at low abundance (<10 ind. m−2) and wet biomass (<0.2 g m−2). Onisimus glacialis and Apherusa glacialis made up 64 and 51% of the total ice faunal abundance in Darnley Bay and Franklin Bay, respectively. During early summer, the autochthonous ice fauna becomes gradually replaced by allochthonous zooplankton, with an abundance boom near the meltwater layer. The ice amphipod bust occurs during late stages of melting and break-up, when their sympagic habitat is diminished then lost.

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Acknowledgments

This study was part of the International Polar Year-Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study (IPY-CFL 2008). Funding for IPY-CFL was provided by the Canadian IPY Federal Program Office, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canada Research Chair (CRC) programmes through grants to D. G. B. Postdoctoral fellowship support was provided to C. J. M. from the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT). The participation of H. H. in the CFL project was jointly facilitated by Arctos and ArcticNet, within the IPY-project PanAME. Thanks to J. Stewart, Head of the DFO dive program, for organization and field support with regard to the SCUBA diving, and also to J. DeLaronde and J. K. Ehn for assistance on the ice. We thank the officers and crew of the CCGS Amundsen for logistical support. The taxonomic work was conducted under a contract with the Institute of Oceanology, Sopot, Poland, and we thank J. Legezynska for providing the results in a timely manner. Thanks to A. Wold and M. Daase, Norwegian Polar Institute, for help with tables and figures. We finally thank J. M. Weslawski, W. Walkusz and one anonymous referee for constructive suggestions to improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Haakon Hop

  2. Institut des Sciences de la Mer (ISMER), Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), 310 allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC, G5L 3A1,, Canada

    Christopher J. Mundy & Michel Gosselin

  3. Centre for Earth Observation Science, Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2,, Canada

    Andrea L. Rossnagel & David G. Barber

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  1. Haakon Hop
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Correspondence to Haakon Hop.

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This article belongs to the special issue “Circumpolar Flaw Lead Study (CFL)”, coordinated by J. Deming and L. Fortier.

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Hop, H., Mundy, C.J., Gosselin, M. et al. Zooplankton boom and ice amphipod bust below melting sea ice in the Amundsen Gulf, Arctic Canada. Polar Biol 34, 1947–1958 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-0991-4

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